Nepal
Activities and Results
Through the democratization movement, Nepal abolished the monarchy that lasted about 240 years in May 2008, declared the transition to a federal democracy, and has started to develop a new nation under the provisional constitution and constitutional assembly. In March 2009, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) started legal technical assistance centered on drafting the Civil Code at the request of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in Nepal. During this process, efforts were made to revise the “Muluki Ain” (a code covering four areas: civil substantive law, civil procedural law, criminal substantive law and criminal procedural law), which was enacted in 1853 and continued to be in effect. In 2014, the Civil Code, Civil Procedure Code, Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Sentencing and Execution Act and the Act relating to Amendment, Unification, Adjustment and Repeal of Some Nepalese Laws were submitted to the Constitutional Assembly, and they were passed in October 2017.
In order to assist democratization in Nepal, the International Cooperation Department (ICD) conducted a training program on the Civil Code and the drafting of its commentary as a "democratization process assistance program" in cooperation with JICA and other organizations. In addition, to address delays in litigation, a major problem in Nepal, training on “case management” for judges was held in 2012. In JICA's “Project for Strengthening the Capacity of Courts for Expeditious and Reliable Dispute Settlement” implemented from September 2013 to March 2018, assistance was given to strengthen case-management capacity and to utilize judicial mediation with the Supreme Court as the main implementing agency, and the ICD also conducted training in Japan for the project. In the field of criminal law, joint research with the Office of the Attorney General of Nepal has been conducted as independent support of the ICD until now, but joint research on criminal justice co-sponsored by the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) has been implemented by inviting prosecutors of the Office of the Attorney General of Nepal to Japan since August 2013.
In order to assist democratization in Nepal, the International Cooperation Department (ICD) conducted a training program on the Civil Code and the drafting of its commentary as a "democratization process assistance program" in cooperation with JICA and other organizations. In addition, to address delays in litigation, a major problem in Nepal, training on “case management” for judges was held in 2012. In JICA's “Project for Strengthening the Capacity of Courts for Expeditious and Reliable Dispute Settlement” implemented from September 2013 to March 2018, assistance was given to strengthen case-management capacity and to utilize judicial mediation with the Supreme Court as the main implementing agency, and the ICD also conducted training in Japan for the project. In the field of criminal law, joint research with the Office of the Attorney General of Nepal has been conducted as independent support of the ICD until now, but joint research on criminal justice co-sponsored by the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) has been implemented by inviting prosecutors of the Office of the Attorney General of Nepal to Japan since August 2013.